Valhelion's Pathhttps://valhelion.wordpress.com
Government by Free AssociationMon, 29 Nov 2010 23:07:46 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/https://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.pngValhelion's Pathhttps://valhelion.wordpress.com
5.”A gentle hand may lead even an elephant by a single hair.” – Iranian Proverbhttps://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/a-gentle-hand-may-lead-even-an-elephant-by-a-single-hair-iranian-proverb/
https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/a-gentle-hand-may-lead-even-an-elephant-by-a-single-hair-iranian-proverb/#respondSat, 18 Sep 2010 12:18:44 +0000http://valhelion.wordpress.com/?p=95Continue reading →]]>The first pillar of The Path is Peace. If you are an agorist, anarchist, or voluntaryist, you accept this as the core principle. I will talk more on that principle later, but today I am in such a mood that I want to talk about a pillar that is often left out of the conversation. It has been ascribed as one of the cardinal virtues of western civilization and is supposed to be one of the core principles of the Christian faith that so many people profess. If Christians were true to this virtue, no Christian could logically be a supporter of a state monopoly of government.

I’m talking about the virtue of Humility.

The days and months after I abandoned my faith in the state, my first impulse was to fight back. When one realizes that the state is the enemy of society and not its benefactor, the old fight or flight mechanism kick in. Anxiety set in for me as I began to see that the threat of violence is at the core of nearly every relationship we have with society. One can’t even hold a job without filling out numerous forms, proving your identity, having permission to work from the state, and choosing how you prefer to be robbed by the IRS. Purchasing the things one needs to survive has a mountain of violent threats against producers and sellers if they don’t obey the maze of rules and restrictions foisted upon them. From being required to pay sales tax, to the requirement to have ‘permission’ to produce or sell, it all rests upon the threat that the state will hurt people who don’t comply.

I felt overwhelmed with sadness, anger, and fear. I wanted to ‘do something’ about it, but I didn’t know what. When Joe Stack flew his plane into that IRS building, I cheered him at first. Here was a man who had acted it seemed, who tried to ‘do something’ about the villains and thieves of the Infernal Robbery Service.

But what did Joe Stack really accomplish? Two people are now dead, his name and reputation ruined, and his family terrorized and dishonored. Did his action cause any state supremacist to say ‘Ah Ha! The state is evil! Now I know thanks to Joe Stack!’? No. The supremacists saw what he did and said ‘See, that’s why we need a state to protect us’. His actions only made their faith in the moral and useful supremacy of the state even more zealous. He failed to change anyone’s mind. He failed because he acted in anger.

If I may modify what a wise man (man?) once said

Fear is the path to the state. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

At the heart of the state as an idea, lies fear. Talk to any statist and you will see that nearly all of their arguments in favor of a state are based upon fear. “We need a government to protect us from criminals. We need a government to provide healthcare to those who can’t afford it. We need a government to educate the children. We need a government to defend the country from invasion.”

Fear of people murdering, raping, and stealing. Fear of people being helpless and sick without anyone willing to help them. Fear of children growing up illiterate and without hope of a good life. Fear of a bunch of strange people coming to dominate and enslave.

Fear is the life of the state.

So why Humility? Humility is the only way to defeat our fear, and the fears of others. We cannot uproot the state in the minds of the masses if they are afraid of us, our ideas, and our solutions. If they see us as something to be feared, we only strengthen their faith in the myth of state protection. We can no longer feed their fears if we hope to have a peaceful society.

But what is Humility, in essence? In the Christian tradition it is called Temperance. It is the practice of restraining our impulses, appetites, and desires. It is the ideal that a person subordinates their instincts to reason. It is the personal acknowledgement that it is not possible to make other people do as one desires in order to achieve happiness for all. It is submission to the idea that other people must lead their own lives. It is giving up the desire to control other people.

Humility is the antithesis of the state. The State is the acme of Pride, Humility’s opposite.

Certainly, when I say Humility, I do not mean humiliation. Humility can only come from one who has self-worth. In order to be humble, one must honestly evaluate the range and limits of their talents, abilities, and authority and respect those natural boundaries. To go beyond is seeking unnatural supremacy.

Many will criticize Humility for being self-sacrificing. To them I say it is no more self-sacrificing than giving the store clerk your money in exchange for a gallon of milk. It is a trade, an exchange. We are giving people actions, deeds, words, and a social atmosphere that they desire, in order to receive trust, respect, and openness from them. View it as a fair trade. We become people they want to be around, and they give us an open mind and an ear.

In the Christian world, Humility requires submission to God as the moral authority of human affairs. Since I am an atheist, I do not accept moral authority from an invisible, magical being that won’t come have a chat with me face to face. However, In the domain of agorism, submission isn’t to God, but rather to the idea that it is impossible to make choices for other people. Certainly people can act to restrict a person’s ability to act on a choice through manipulating the physical environment, but it is impossible for another to decide what a person must think. The Non-Aggression Principle is the conclusion of this axiom, as threating violence is the attempt to make people act on a choice they have not made.

If we submit to the reality that choices can only be made by an individual, and act accordingly respectful of what people decide to do with their lives, bodies, and possessions, then we implicitly embrace the virtue of Humility. It is not selfishness and greed that drives us as we are often accused, but a universal respect for the boundaries of everyone’s individual domains.

So, if one accepts Humility as a virtue, how should one act? Returning to the idea that the state and fear go hand in hand, we must abandon fear.

Fear is a natural response to dangerous situations. If we had to consciously think about dangerous situations, people simply would not survive. It is automatic and instinctual. Humility, with regards to social fears, allows us to overcome the impulse to be afraid. This takes practice and requires an event of nearly religious emotive power; Forgiveness.

Once a person becomes aware of all the dangers that the state presents in our daily lives, a great deal of anxiety, fear, and dread can take hold. Many times, the response to this anxiety is to las out in anger, rage, hatred, or passive-aggression. Over time, this behavior can build into a mountain of stress and really start to wear a person down. Forgiveness is the act of letting go of all that emotional baggage. Forgiveness is all about social debt. We feel that the state owes us a great deal for the trauma it inflicts, and this feeling of being ‘owed’ dominates our perspective and drives self destructive behavior. Let it go.

I finally achieved peace when I forgave my tormenters. When I realized that they were just like I had been, terrorized into believing that people are bad and must be threatened to achieve virtue, I began to have Compassion for them. True, they are violent, but they are helpless to combat their own fear. They are violent because they cannot overcome their fear with reason. We can help them, and Humility shows us how.

1. Forgive yourself and those people in y our life who have inflicted trauma upon you. As Stefan Molyneux rightly advises, we have to start addressing our own interpersonal relationships and either repair them, or abandon them. Doing this will help us to build our sense of self-worth and value as a human being. To be respectful of ourself and others is critical for exhibiting Humility.

2. Practice Random Acts of Kindness (RAK). Whether it be as simple as holding a door for someone, or letting someone cut ahead of us in a traffic jam, do things every day to strengthen your Humility muscles. Be nice to the policeman, even though he is a thug and villain. A great example of this is what Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men do in Keene, NH. They walk around town looking for cars with expired parking meters and drop some more coin into the meters to help the motorists and to deprive the state of fines. We need to do more of these types of activities because people appreciate kindness.

3. Don’t practice Civil Disobedience out of anger or resentment. If you are going to break the law, do so helping people. Don’t do it for purely selfish or moral reasons. I ran across a Civil Disobedience event in the city of Orlando over at cdEvolution.org where a rule prevented people from mass feeding within a 2 mile radius of the city. A bunch of activists got together and fed over 100 people. The masses respond to our positions positively when they see we are suffering under the boot of the state to help our fellow man, and not so positevely when they see us acting like hooligans. We must protect our image and our brand. Applying civil disobedience affectively is where I’m going to have the biggest disagreement with my fellow anarchists, and I will address this in greater detail at some point in the future.

4. Be quiet. Don’t proselytize. Don’t use words that only an anarchist can understand in its full dept. Don’t use words like ‘coercion, state, non-aggression’ as people aren’t familiar with these terms and their meanings. Use simpler words like ‘hurt, harm, attack, nation, government’. Ask questions certainly, but don’t offer your own views without being asked in kind. Don’t argue with people. If they come to you trying to convert you to their ideology, listen politely, ask questions, and show respect. If you do this, they may be curious as to what you believe and they may ask. It is better to be the quiet, kind, polite, courteous person who never raises their voice and treats people the same, than to be the person who is always arguing, ranting, and spouting off ideology. Be the honey, not the vinegar.

5. Only pick battles you can win. If you get caught driving too fast, don’t cause a scene as nobody will feel any sympathy for you except fellow liberty activists who are already convinced. Pay the fine and keep your mouth shut. Swallow your Pride. As anarchists, I believe Pride to be our greatest enemy. It is a remnant of statism that drives us to act out our disgust for our arch nemesis in self destructive ways. Don’t be too proud to pay a tax, get a license, do what the cop tells you as fighting those battles will probably be wasted effort. This isn’t selling out, its living to fight another day. If you get thrown into jail because you backtalked the judge, you’ll look foolish and the people we need to reach won’t respect you. Being in jail is an opportunity cost. We need to stay out of jail so that we can mingle with people and display our virtue. Pick battles you can win by putting the state in a moral corner where the only acceptable outcome for them is to back down. I plan on talking a lot more about this in the future.

There are many more ways to practice Humility, but those are enough to get started. When people see you as someone they can respect and have a relationship with, your views will instantly gain a lot more credibility. Looking back, I’ve ruined so many opportunities with people during my conversions by arguing, getting upset, spouting off, and not living my life in a respectful manner. The people I have been able to listen to my views have been the ones who thought well of me. People don’t respond to logic, but they do respond to virtue.

Lastly, Humility will make you feel good about yourself. This is as much about becoming a better human being as it is about winning an ideological war. Who wants anarchy if its full of passive-aggressive social misfits?

Be the light that illuminates the Path for all to see.

]]>https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/18/a-gentle-hand-may-lead-even-an-elephant-by-a-single-hair-iranian-proverb/feed/0valhelion4. Hi, name is Helio, and I’m a recovering Authorityholichttps://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/4-hi-name-is-helio-and-im-a-recovering-authorityholic/
https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/4-hi-name-is-helio-and-im-a-recovering-authorityholic/#commentsFri, 10 Sep 2010 21:08:54 +0000http://valhelion.wordpress.com/?p=50Continue reading →]]>I’ve been sober and authority free for one year now. It has been a real struggle, but I’ve come so far. I’m really proud of my progress in becoming a peaceful and ethical human being.

That wasn’t always the case, however.

I was raised in a strict, disciplinarian, Christian household. My father was very stern and demanded much of me. I obeyed most of the time, but when I didn’t I would be whipped with his belt, or switched by my mother. Bad kids deserved to be punished for not doing as they are told. I went to church every Sunday and was expected to pray to Jesus for forgiveness for my disobedience. I was a good Christian boy and I did as the Bible commanded.

I went to public school like everybody else, and did as the teachers told me. When I didn’t do as instructed, I would be paddled, sent to time out and punished. Bad students deserve to be punished. I mostly behaved as I knew my father would punish me at home for not obeying the teacher. I asked Jesus to make me a better student.

Every day in school, every lesson was obedience. Behave on the bus, sit quietly in your seat, do your homework, stay in line, answer the test questions correctly, color inside the lines, say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. I learned that rules were meant to be followed and if I was going to be a good student, I would have to follow them, too.

My father was a minister and a farmer, and I was expected to help him to put food on our table when I wasn’t at school. I wanted to play more than work most of the time, though. So I would be punished for not contributing to the family when I was expected to.

So I learned. To do as one is told is to do good. To disobey is to be a bad person.

As I grew and got older, I noticed that there were a lot of people not doing as they were told. Those people were doing drugs, driving too fast, not paying their taxes, not going to church, talking bad about the President, and on and on. The world was full of bad people it seemed. They needed to be punished to teach them to be good and follow the rules like me.

But something happened to me. I’m not sure what it was exactly, but I began to have doubts about Jesus. I began to question my father’s instructions. I stopped doing my homework. This all happened around the time a boy starts thinking about girls. I had always heard being a teenager would make you bad. My father had warned me once when I was about 10 that I might be bad when I grew up a little more. I had told him I would always be good. I would always do as I was told.

But as I grew, I broke my promise. I stopped going to church, and abandoned much of what I had been taught. The more I stopped, the worse everyone made me feel about my choices. It made me very upset, but following the rules and being obedient really didn’t make me happy. I was told to grow up, that life was hard, and if I wanted to be something I was going to have to do as I was told. The pressure to follow the rules was piled on and I eventually melted down. Depressed, alone, without any real friends in the world, I quit everything. But a chance event would, in a very strange way, save my soul.

At 17, while skipping school my senior year, I was deep in the forest next door with my two young dogs. I always took a machete with me to carve out trails, and perhaps to use for defense if the need arose. But this day, I cleaved my bare left foot opened on accident. Blood poured out and I learned a lot about myself that day. I abandoned fear and saved my own life. I didn’t even think about what I was doing, and I just reacted to the situation. I used a sock to make a simple tourniquet around the wound. Then I proceeded to crawl, only wearing a pair of shorts, through the swamp, briars, cow shit, weeds, across gullies, and through the hot August sun for four hours, to my neighbor’s house for help. They heard me yelling when I got close and I was taken to the hospital.

That day was my salvation in a lot of ways. I required tendon repair surgery as the machete had cut deep. I missed 6 weeks of school, had to learn to walk again. The school system failed to deliver my assignments and I fell far behind. When I returned, it became apparent that I couldn’t catch up and graduate with my class. So I quit.

I became good at quitting after that. I quit college 3 times, I couldn’t hold a job for very long, I couldn’t hold a relationship. I became successful at failure. But there was one thing that gave me a sense of purpose, of belonging, of direction, and of strength; The Nation. It filled that empty void that a broken and humiliated person feels when they have lost their dignity.

Around age 18, I tried to join the Navy. I wanted to be on a submarine that carried nukes. I wanted to be one of the chosen few to protect The Nation. My family had a long tradition of military service. My brother, father, uncles, cousins and distant relatives had served. My ancestors had served in every American war. Now it was my turn to serve.

But that ol’ machete saved me from that fate, too. They wouldn’t take me because my wound gave me some limited mobility (which I have completely regained). I was depressed, for a while. I found odd jobs as I searched for purpose.

Then September 11th happened. Those bastards had attacked MY Nation. I was angry, and I wanted vengeance and war. I wanted The Nation to turn the middle east into a glow-in-the-dark parking lot. I wanted the blood of millions to be spilled to repay what they had done. They were my enemies, and I hated them all.

When The Nation sent in its conquering armies I was so happy and proud. I watched the tanks thundering through the desert. I couldn’t get enough of it and wanted Iraq to become the 51st state, ripe for colonization by good Americans. I wanted Empire. I was only angry at the Nation’s leaders for not sending more troops. I wanted a million troops dominating that sand pit of a country.

After all, our Nation was the mightiest, most prosperous of all. I told my friends that we would bring civilization to those barbaric people and save them from their cruel masters. When they learned what it was like to have wealth and freedom, they would abandon their evil religious nonsense. We would save them with arms and with prosperity.

The Nation made me feel strong and filled the emptiness in my life. I voted and attacked those who criticized my Nation’s leader. I hated those who vilified our glorious liberating army. I wanted them arrested, imprisoned for their treasonous words and poisonous acts of demonstration. I wanted them to follow the rules and obey like me.

But, once again, something happened that would save my humanity.

The stock market, and economy crashed. One of the mighty pillars that my faith in The Nation rested upon collapsed. I reeled. How could our leaders let such a thing happen? Then, I found the answers online. I found Peter Schiff on YouTube predicting it years in advance. I found Ludwig von Mises and Friedrick A. Hayek’s wisdom. I discovered Fractional Reserve Banking, and how fiat currency worked. I learned how evil and fraudulent it was. For a long time, I was perplexed at why the Nation’s leaders would allow such a scheme. Then I realized, they were in on it. They benefited from it. It was the leaders who betrayed the Nation!

And then I found Ron Paul.

Because of him, I began to read what Jefferson, Payne, and Franklin said. I found liberty. I found the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. I read. I learned what I had never heard, that liberty is the mother of order, not order’s daughter. That my rights are not given by the Nation. That I my liberties are inalienable. That the Nation wasn’t a democracy, but a republic. I learned that my country and my government weren’t the same thing, which was earth shattering for me. I learned that the Nation was designed to protect us from evil. If only we could restore it to what it was supposed to do. The leaders weren’t following the rules. They had to obey the rules. They had to be punished.

I joined Campaign for Liberty, studied Austrian Economics, and devoured many books. I fell in love with Glenn Beck and bought a bunch of his books, too. Here was our cause’s true spokesman! He would wake up the People so they could punish the leaders! I joined a local tea party. I discovered the Non-Aggression Principle. I donated money to campaigns. I spread the word. I gave the constitution out at Christmas as gifts to my friends and family and told them about Ron Paul, the man who would save the Nation!

But, little did I know, the folks over at the Mises Institute had a trick up their sleeve. I found Lew Rockwell, and Murray Rothbard. I found article after article casting doubt on the Nation’s ability to manage things, to make things good for everyone. No longer did I believe that the Nation should help people get healthcare, housing, and education, but here they were questioning whether there should even be a Nation at all. What about roads? Who would protect us from thieves and outsiders, how would contracts be enforced and disputes resolved?

But I had grown to trust them. Clearly, they had predicted the collapse years in advance. Could they also be right about the need for a Nation? Slowly, one by one, the pieces fell into place. I learned that monopolies don’t really occur without the Nation, and that those monopolies provide services with crappy quality, at wealth destroying profit losses, and at high prices. The Postal Service, Amtrak, Medicare, Medicaid, every government program was an abject failure. The banks were a cartel backed up by the evil and private Federal Reserve. Health insurance companies were defacto state sanctioned cartels. I learned that the wars on drugs, poverty, and terror could all be traced back to meddlesome interference into people’s lives by the Nation.

I can’t remember the day, or the moment. It happened so quietly. A whisper at first and slowly it grew until it was a roar in my mind. Authority belongs to individuals, not nations. People shouldn’t have to obey a monopoly that forces its will upon them with threats of punishment. I saw that all government services are paid for with compulsory contributions we call taxes for things we may not approve. Even if we do approve, the funds are squandered on favors and is mostly wasted in the bueacratic jungle. I saw the police as violent thugs for the first time in my life. I saw that this monopoly I had called my Nation, trained me, my father before me, and his father before him, that it was Master. It had trained us without me even realizing it. It had trained me to obey, to follow the rules or to be punished.

I finally learned that people who are good, don’t use violence to get what they want; they cooperate peacefully. People who are bad take what they want with violence. No matter what badge, uniform, or title they have.

When I learned this, obedience to the authority of the Nation lost its hold on me forever. I found ethics and philosophy through Stefan Molyneux over at Free Domain Radio. I began to process my trauma.

I finally realized that freedom from predation, violence, and theft can only be successfully provided by voluntary association, just like in every other service or good people desire such as bread, shoes, or ipads. The monopoly that was supposed to protect me, had instead abused me and everyone I knew.

Many have asked me “why don’t you just leave if you don’t like it?” I have left, in my heart and mind. But what better place to fight the war of ideas than here where liberty had flourished the brightest for the longest? The battlefield is in the minds of my friends, family, neighbors and strangers. I think that battle can be won, in time. I stay here to be a beacon for others.

For the first time in my life, I have peace, tranquility, self esteem, and purpose. I don’t need the crutches of religion or nationalism to prop me up any more. I’m a human being and I have self-worth because I have gained self-knowledge. I can stand on my own two feet as a person and do the right thing, not because someone commands, but because it is true.

That is my Path.

]]>https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/4-hi-name-is-helio-and-im-a-recovering-authorityholic/feed/1valhelion3. Thank you sir, may I have another?https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/thank-you-sir-may-i-have-another/
https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/thank-you-sir-may-i-have-another/#respondWed, 08 Sep 2010 17:07:05 +0000http://valhelion.wordpress.com/?p=26Continue reading →]]>This morning, I was given an opportunity to ‘Walk The Path’. It was only a personal opportunity as it did not involve another person seeing the results, but it was an important victory for myself.

Historically, I have been inclined to feeling road rage at the apparent lack of consideration that other drivers display. I hate dump trucks, and big rigs, and tractor trailers, and any manner of large, slow, dirty, heavy, industrial vehicle. I despise having my view blocked, or my progress delayed.

But this morning was different. On the way to the bank to drop off my paycheck before heading into work, a large dual wheeled vehicle towing a trailer with a large tractor pulled out in front of me, causing me to have to put on my breaks and reduce speed by 25 mph. Normally, I would be furious and curse, spit, and wave my hand or honk my horn at the obvious discourtesy that the other driver showed me.

As I felt the rising tide of my quickening pulse, the drawing in of a breath, and the twinge of rage begin to build, I remembered The Path.

I said “Thank you, sir.” aloud to myself as if the other driver could hear me. I didn’t say these words with sarcasm, or with an alternate meaning. Rather, I sincerely felt thanks. I was grateful for the opportunity this anonymous driver had given me to conquer my anger. I let go of it, released my breath, and my pulse slowed once more. Certainly, if I would have acted by blowing my horn, or following too close, the other driver would have thought me to be the rude one. It is better that the other driver not know of my feelings and continue on their way.

I followed at a slower rate of speed, at a comfortable distance behind, for only one mile. The driver turned off and I continued on my way. Not being angry in that moment set the mood of my day, and perhaps that of the other driver’s as well. When we are angry, we cannot experience joy.

The means cannot contradict the ends.

If I am angry, my actions will be taken in anger, and the results will cause anger in others. I do not want to live in a society of angry people as I now must. I cannot make people courteous by yelling insults, honking the horn, or giving them the finger. Instead, maybe they will see a calm, courteous, kind, and joyful person that blows off adversity with a smile. I believe that is true power. The power to inspire. To show people that the utility of anger is inferior to joy.

That is a step along The Path.

]]>https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/08/thank-you-sir-may-i-have-another/feed/0valhelion2. Victory….https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/victory/
https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/victory/#respondTue, 07 Sep 2010 23:34:52 +0000http://valhelion.wordpress.com/?p=19Continue reading →]]>The point of this blog can be summed up with that simple little word; Victory. My aim is victory and any method that brings about victory is my means. The state, that is, the idea that some people are naturally morally superior and must use any means to bring about a prosperous and peaceful society, is the enemy. My goal is its defeat as an accepted method of social organization. I have no qualms about stating this objective.

I’m writing this blog is to help me determine the best path for achieving that victory. If an idea is to be defeated, it can only be slain with better ideas. These ‘better’ ideas I speak of shall strike at the root of the state, which I will explore in future posts. As I said before, If you believe the state is just, virtuous, and benevolent, then please turn away from this blog, as you are not its intended audience. I am not here to pick fights and I will explain why in the future.

As that most pugnacious of nationalist leaders Winston Churchill said,

“Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival.”

My path is a victorious path and I will share my victories with anyone who would like to hear. Victory at all costs, by all means, and without end. However, as Gandhi said,

“As the means, so the end.”

Thus we recognize that the means cannot contradict the end. And our end? Since we seek to undermine the notion that social cooperation is best served by threat of force, using the threat of force to do so would be a contradiction. I will condemn any so-called anarchist, agorist, voluntaryist, libertarian or any other ideology or philosophy that uses threats to achieve that end. I do not take this stance upon ethical grounds, for if a man defends himself and his justly acquired property from predation, his actions are just.

The reason why I take this anti-threat stance is simple; utility. I have come to understand that the only way to achieve victory is to attack the very heart of the state. And that attack cannot succeed with appeals to emotion, or reason, or ethics. Our victory lies wholly on our ability to demonstrate that the state has the least utility for achieving its mythical aims than other methods. Many others explore what those methods might be. My goal is to work in ways to employ those methods so that we may use our successes as evidence for voluntary cooperation as having the most utility to a society. If we can win that argument with the soft supporters of the state, that its claim of superior utility is false, we can be victorious.

My own personal experience demonstrates this point. My loss of faith in the Nation and its helmsmen occurred because I saw what epic failures they were at managing prosperity. In fact, it was in learning that their actions were the cause of those failures that spurred on the demise of the nation-state as a legitimate construct in my mind. It was the state’s failure to protect its citizens’ wealth that led to its loss of moral legitimacy in my eyes. It was the apparent failure of its utility that allowed the ideas of liberty, individual sovereignty, and ethics flood my mind once the dam of youth conditioning had been breached.

So I am against using threats against the state because it will have the least utility and very likely negative utility. I will ponder the reasoning behind this in detail and I will also explore methods that I believe will have the most utility in the future.

In closing, I have read many blogs, watched many videos and read a few books on the subject. I will continue to seek out and absorb the ideas, speculations, theories, and prognostications of our movement and digest them. However, I see far too many of our small group pontificating and too few taking direct, productive action. I hope this blog will serve as a rallying point for those who want to do something, but just do not know what that something should be.

If we are to be victorious, we must realize that the path we take toward victory is the victory itself. The path is the destination.

Walk with me.

]]>https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/victory/feed/0valhelion1. There is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/there-is-a-difference-between-knowing-the-path-and-walking-the-path/
https://valhelion.wordpress.com/2010/09/07/there-is-a-difference-between-knowing-the-path-and-walking-the-path/#respondTue, 07 Sep 2010 20:04:24 +0000http://valhelion.wordpress.com/?p=5Continue reading →]]>That is what Morpheus said to Neo in The Matrix after Neo had saved Morpheus from being mind hacked. It was in that moment, that Neo began to see that he had the power to change things. Like Neo, I have started to see that I am not helpless and can act in a positive way. Those who see the inevitable conclusion of Jefferson’s eternal words “that all men are created equal”, eventually have a moment where we realize that it is no longer enough to just believe. We must also act. In the aftermath of personal ideological upheaval, one realizes that theorizing isn’t enough. And so one comes to a terrible fork in the road. That fork, is the choice between imagining the world we desire, and acting to achieve it.

This blog is an attempt to gather my thoughts and to encourage a daily affirmation of the path I have chosen. That path is like a tiny ship sailing on a vast ocean of ideas. It will not be a pleasant voyage, as the swirling storms of viciousness, of hate, envy, and raging violence in the world around us threatens to sink our frail hopes of a better life. Each day I rise and fight a constant battle to keep the ship aright and on a steady course. Most days are stalled attempts at progress, but on rare occasion, the storm breaks and a ray of sunlight illuminates my life for a short moment before the storm re-envelopes my rickety hulk.

My destination is the dream of a civilization founded upon the everlasting foundation of individual sovereignty, and the storms we face are those ancient traditions that keep humanity trapped in depravity. Though the storm is great, and our fledgling movement is small, I have great hope about what can be achieved. I do not believe I will live to see the final victory over this old foe, but I do believe I will live to see it greatly diminished. My vessel’s cargo is a discipline that will hopefully reach others adrift on the darkened seas of society.

This blog is for myself and those who value these ideals. It is to be the record of my journey towards the end I so desperately seek. I do not write these words to incite argument with those who oppose these ideas. It is not for those who think men must be enslaved by their fellow man for some ephemeral greater good. I cannot challenge your faith in the traditional methods of societal organization because I too couldn’t hear the reasoned arguments against it until the emotional bond with the nation had been severed by its own malevolent designs. Only when I lost faith in its virtue, could I understand its vice. One cannot be shown until they desire to see and so I do not write this to convince anyone that compulsion by threat is immoral and ineffective. Rather, if you come to see as I finally did, that our social institutions are immoral and ineffective, I offer a path. One of many paths to be sure, but this one is the one I have chosen. I have taken the first step.